Early this morning, we had prowlers at Happy Cabin. At about 4:30 a.m., our security cameras started to send alerts in quick succession. Suspicious activity! Our security camera archives prowler videos in small bites. The first video is a teaser. I hear footsteps and some muffled sounds. Whispers? Conspiring? The nervous clearing of a throat?

The second video is a little better. There is definitely someone there. There is movement in the shadows, rustling and breathing before a large shadow approaches the house.

The third video tells all. Emerging out of the darkness, large and formidable, there it is: a thief. She’s in the driveway, on the porch steps, on the porch. Is she trying to get in? Nope, she’s going after something on the porch rail. Oops, somebody accidentally left out a bag of leftovers. She’s grunting. She’s hungry. She’s taking the leftovers! She’s a…big…black…bear.

This mama has accomplices. Two babies grunt and root around in the snow. After about fivc minutes of late-night feasting, they lumber away into the cold, winter night. Which gets us thinking…It’s the middle of December, and North Lake Tahoe is covered in snow. Is it normal for this mama bear with cubs to be awake right now? Shouldn’t she be hibernating with her babies, conserving her energy through the freezing, food-scarce winter?

While most bears do hibernate, California Fish and Wildlife Biologist Jason Holley reports in the Tahoe Daily Tribune that 10 to 15 percent of bears stay active during the winter, often relying on human leftovers to survive. Sometimes bears evens wake up, look around to see how much human garbage they can find, and then choose to go back to sleep or stay awake based on whether they like what’s for lunch.

Unfortunately, relying on human food to survive isn’t good for bears. Bears can get too accustomed to humans, making them unsafe, which can in turn lead to euthanization. Plus, human food doesn’t provide the best diet for bears. This was a good reminder for us to remind our guests and family how important it is that all food comes out of cars and off of porch rails, into the (safely secured) cabin.

For more information about black bears in North Lake Tahoe, and how humans can help bears thrive, visit the Bear League at http://www.savebears.org/.

To visit Happy Cabin during your trip to North Lake Tahoe / Tahoe Vista / Kings Beach, click here.